Marked before birth by a vampire, it's not easy living under the rule of their sworn enemies, the wolves. Bullied and abused, Joy's been an outcast her whole life. Until a wolf saves her and teaches her the secrets of love and pleasure. He says she's his mate, but the only way they can be together is if she's blindfolded, keeping his face a secret until the day comes to make her his wife.
View More*Dale is an old English name for a narrow valley
The distant sound of galloping hooves disturbed the deep silence of the night on the prairie, where the tall grass rippled in the cold northern wind toward the trees. The forest poured down from the hills enclosing the only access to the narrow valley, ending at the high plain like a wall of darkness under the clouded moon.
Two dozen shadows climbed past the last slope to the prairie, staggering as they tried to run toward the woods, their trembling voices trying to encourage each other.
“The Red Woods!”
“The Dale is right there!”
“One last run!”
“Don’t stop now!”
The fugitives stumbled toward the other end of the prairie, where the shadows of the forest promised shelter. Men and women, even children, they were all dirty and barefoot, injured, eyes wide in terror. The fittest runners sprinted ahead while families tried to stay together, pulling by the hand the weaker and younger ones.
Among them, the smith pressed his wife’s hand, as she panted with an arm around her bulging belly.
Stopping wasn’t an option, with the hooves climbing closer behind them.
The riders soon reached the prairie. They were about twenty, all wrapped in heavy fur cloaks, the light blond hair in braids down their backs, revealing the beautiful pale faces.
They reined their tall battle horses back, making them walk until the fugitives were halfway to the trees. Then they wielded long spears with silver points and spurred on their horses.
The fugitives tried to run faster. Some tripped and fell, disappearing in the rippling sea of grass. Nobody stopped to help them. There was no time. The others kept running toward the forest without looking back, their hearts hammering their chests, where the freezing air seemed to burn their lungs.
The riders charged like a silent nightmare. Some paused to catch those who had fallen, and still tried to hide or get up to keep running. Most of them stayed on the chase. Their spears thrust through the fugitives, taking them down still alive. Then the riders jumped from their saddles and onto the wounded. Screams of sheer pain and agony filled the night, as sharp fangs sank into the beating flesh.
All of a sudden, a dozen of huge shadows came out from under the trees. The moon showed among the clouds, shedding light on the giant wolves, the size of bulls, leaping toward the slaughter in the middle of the prairie.
Some fugitives slowed down in fear, and that hesitation made them easy prey for the riders. The wolves ignored them to jump on the horses, tackling them down to then attack the riders.
Amidst that horror, the smith pulled from his wife, begging her to make one last exertion. The legend was true: the cursed forest guarded the entrance to the Dale of Wolves, sworn enemies of the immortals who had just slain their village. And the legend said that whoever crossed into the Dale would find shelter, and the rare chance of a peaceful life safe from them.
Just a step behind him, his wife let out a muffled scream and tripped. She knew she wouldn’t get much further. Her injured bare feet slipped in her own blood, her legs felt about to buckle, air didn’t seem to reach her chest anymore. The only thing pushing her on was the baby in her belly, just about to be born.
Then she felt the burning pain in her right shoulder, and saw in disbelief the silver point coming out of her own flesh. It pierced through her body to sink into the soil one step ahead of her, stopping her with a violent yank.
The smith felt her hand slip through his fingers and heard her scream. He halted and turned around, freezing in horror when he found her caught in the spear as the rider jumped on her.
His wife fell to her knees, still grabbing her belly, glazed eyes up on him, her face a mask of pain and desperation. The rider stood behind her with a crooked smirk. He grabbed the long messy hair and yanked her head back, exposing her neck to his sharp fangs.
“No!” the smith screamed as the rider bit her viciously. “Help!”
The fright froze him as the rider drank his wife’s blood. Until her moan shook him into action. He charged against the rider, pushing him back with all his strength. The rider’s fangs tore open his wife’s flesh and her blood gushed from her wound, coating her chest and the rags she was wearing.
The rider straightened up with an evil laugh and grabbed the smith by his neck, lifting him up until his feet didn’t touch the ground anymore.
The smith didn’t fight back. He knew it was in vain. He closed his eyes awaiting death.
Instead, the rider dropped him on the ground by his dying wife.
The biggest wolf in the pack was fighting the rider, who now wielded a short sword.
The smith crawled back, trying to protect his wife.
The black wolf dodged the sword and jumped on the rider, closing the mighty jaws on his neck. It shook him until the rider’s head fell off. Then it dropped the dead body, which fell partly on top of the woman, his blood pouring on her.
Fear froze the smith again when the huge creature stepped closer, the rider’s blood still dripping from its muzzle. He didn’t dare to intervene when the wolf pushed away the dead rider and lowered its head to smell the woman, who out of a true miracle was still alive.
It sniffed her and growled, stepping back. Then it raised its big head and let out a long, mighty howl, that seemed to punch the smith in his chest. He kneeled before the creature, bending over with his face just an inch away from the soil soaked in his wife’s blood.
“Save them, my lord wolf!” he cried out loud. “I beg you!”
Something cold and wet touched his temple, and when he looked up, he found the wolf studying him with a supernatural intelligence in its golden eyes.
“Please, take my life!” he begged. “But save my wife and my child!”
A party of men ran out of the forest. There were no trace of the riders left, but some decapitated bodies and horse galloping away by themselves.
The wolves had spread all over the prairie, marking the location of the surviving fugitives for the men to help. Three of them came up to the smith. One of them helped him to stand up when another one stepped away from his wife.
“She’s bitten, my lord!” he cried, spooked. “We cannot save her!”
The wolf turned to the man with a deep growl. The men bowed their heads and lifted the dying woman. They didn’t remove the spear piercing through her shoulder, to prevent a massive bleeding that would kill her in a blink. The smith stumbled behind them, stunned, unable of speaking or even thinking, trembling from head to toes.
It took them what felt like eternity to carry her across the forest. At the other side, past the last trees, he saw a whole village, the narrow streets filled with people hurrying to and fro to help the fugitives.
They brought the smith’s wife to a small house near the square, where a disheveled woman, her head wrapped in colorful strips, told them to lie her down on a heavy wooden table. The place reeked of smoke and herbs.
“Out!” the woman barked the moment they settled the smith’s wife down.
The men grabbed the smith and dragged him out with them. The huge black wolf with golden eyes walked in and the men lowered their heads before it. The smith tried to follow it in.
“Right there!” one of the men said, stopping him. “Your wife is as good as dead, but maybe the witch and the Alpha can save your child.”
Aine’s look warned me she wouldn’t take cagey answers.“What I can’t understand is how he dared to touch an underage girl. I mean, underage for him,” she said.I slapped my forehead.“The silver!” I cried.We reached the cave while I told her about Lily’s dress and what the wolf had said, that my scent changed when he touched me. Aine guided me to tie our horses right under the cave’s access and hung her saddlebags from her shoulder, telling me to do the same with mine.“And the second nugget was in the panties?”“Yes. He made me take them off to search them.”“Oh, well, he’s not such a pervert as I thought.” She chuckled. “That explains it. Your body reacted to his touch, more than both of you expected. Poor thing, I actually pity him.”We went up to the boulder and climbed to the ledge. A wave of emotion made me pace do
Aine was right outside my window, crouching down on the sill, and took a finger to his lips with her eyes fixed on the plank. I frowned, noticing she was wearing a hunting outfit.She kept staring at the panel, her nostrils flapping. I heard one last footstep at the top of the stone stairs. Aine let out a sigh and threw me a bundle of clothes.“I’ll be waiting behind the beehives,” she whispered, and disappeared before I could ask what she was up to.The bundle turned out to be a shirt and trousers. Good. I didn’t care what she had in mind. I could use those clothes.I changed in a hurry and put on my short leather boots. I almost forgot the map, but I changed my mind, because I didn’t want to damage such a beautiful book. So I took a good look at it, memorizing the way to the cave. I grabbed the flint from the mantelpiece and jumped out the window. The moment I set foot in the meadow, I sprinted away toward the closest line
I hurried out without looking back, pressing my chest where, like the princess had just said, my heart was pounding. I ran to the other end of the hallway, to the stairs that would take me to the security of my room.Tilda waited at the bottom of the stairs, worried and sad. Marla, Ronda and the other healers were right behind her. For some reason, seeing them felt like another punch to my belly.I faced Tilda with my eyes full of tears, and raised both hands when she stepped up closer to me. My reaction stopped them, and they looked taken aback as they watched me stick my back to the wall and move past them. I hurried into my room, closing and locking the door.It was always the same. Wolves showing concern for my wellbeing, while they kept putting me in situations than could only end badly for me.Like leaving me alone in the cave, without warning me that lion mountains came down to hunt in that part of the forest.Like making Selene scrub the fl
The girls’ puzzled looks reminded me of Selene when Marla asked her a similar question.“Did you try to stop them?” asked the Beta’s wife. “Did you defend her? Did you seek help? Did you report them to your tutor like you just snitched on them just now?”The girls bent over themselves, hiding their faces in their skirts.“What are we to do with them?” asked the princess, her eyes moving over the kneeling girls shaking before her. “Our guests arrive in only five days.”“We can’t have them loose in our home,” said one of the wolves. “They’re too dangerous.”“I’d be ashamed to let our guests see we harbor such scum,” another one added.“They can sleep in the dungeon until we can take care of them,” a third lady suggested with a mild smile.“And since we’ll have to keep feeding them, they can pay us by
Soon the wolves headed out of the hall. A chill ran down my spine when I saw the Alpha come out the first, with the princess and the long-haired prince. I noticed he keep his eyes down under a stormy scowl, and decided I wouldn’t take any risks. I took a deep bow, keeping my head down as the wolves walked by.Lucky me, none of them stopped, and the princess’ sons whispered their goodbyes without stopping for an answer. I was straightening up, swallowing a grunt of pain, when the maids’ tutor left the hall preceding the girls. Her face showed concern when she saw us there. However, she took on a patronizing attitude, nodding hi at Kendra like she was another human, and ignoring me completely.When the last girl walked into the side room, Kendra signaled me to follow her and we walked in too. All the girls were whispering with worried faces, and shut their mouth when they saw us.“Close the door, Joy,” Kendra said, scanning them with
“I’d like you to meet my mate, Ronan,” the princess said, looking up at her husband with both love and pride in her eyes.“My lord Ronan,” I said with yet another bow.“Glad to finally meet you, Joy,” he said with a deep voice. “My whole family told me about you.”“I’m honored, my lord,” I replied, keeping my eyes down.Brenan and his brothers came closer with their nice, warm smiles.“Joy, hi! I found a book you will like,” said Brenan. “I’ll give it to Aine for you.”“Thank you, my lord Brenan.”“When can I find you in the bathhouse, Joy?” asked Kellan.“Tomorrow afternoon, my lord.”“We’ll be waiting,” said Declan with a wink.“No tickles, I hope, my lord.”They chuckled on their way to the main table and I faced the princess. Her husband
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